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Harry Bingham 



IN 



... Literature ... 



Batchellor 



ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



GRAFTON AND COOS COUNTIHS 
BAR ASSOCIATION 

AT THE MEETING HELD AT 

WOODSVILLE, 

FOR THE 

PRESENTATION OF MEMOIRS 

OF 

Harry Binghaivi, 

December 11, 1900. 



RELATIONS TO LITERATURE 



ALBERT STILLMAN BATCHELLOR. 



CONCORD, N. H. : 

THE RUMrORD PRE55, 

1902. 



B; 



p. 

A'lthor. 

(Pwwn). 



Mr. PrcsiiJcnt : 

It was Mr. Biugluuii's fortune to work out liis career in 
an environment tliat set bounds to his reputation in no 
wise correspondinq- witli liis talents. He was tlie product 
of t\\Q intellectual and moi'al development of the historic 
Connecticut stock, which had occupied the Connecticut 
river valley and had given ciiaracter to a succession of 
generations on that fertile and prosperous domain. Out 
of this same region Salmon P. Chase and Thaddeus 
Stevens strode to the highest seats of power and prestio-e. 
Had it been fated that Harry Bingliam should go out into 
a wider sphere of action — into a more central arena — as 
they did, he would liave stood with tliem, by universal 
consent, as well as in fact, a peer among tlie ablest lawyers 
and the most potential statesmen of liis time. 

Pie was called to the bar in 1846 with a character well 
settled in tlie essential principles whicli dominated his 
after life. He kept high ideals always in view for his own 
guidance. His character was distinguished by a devout 
and patriotic mentality. His integrity was rock-ribbed. 
The political doctrines of his fatliers were ingrained in 
him. His religious nature was congenital. His devotion 
to fundamental principles related to social order and 
human conduct was a conspicuous feature of his stalwart 
manhood. He was at the same time an intensely practical 
man. He wasted no time or effort in pursuit of the unat- 
tainable. He was not unconscious of his own intellectual 
and moral strength — his al)ility to grapple with any of the 
concerns of government, with -Any of the questions of the 
learned in science and philosophy, and witli any of the 
problems of life. He had the c-ourage to undertake and 



the skill to accomplish the reduction of theories in admin- 
istration and legislation, — however novel and unpromis- 
ing, if actually sound and workable — into the concrete of 
actual affairs. In the severe curriculum of his profes- 
sional life, however, he never subordinated the legitimate 
demands which belonged to an extensive, important, and 
exacting clientage to the ulterior demands of interests 
or ambitions conflicting with an unalterable purpose to 
deserve high distinction as a- jurist. Thus it was inevit- 
able that he should compass the largest honors and the 
most substantial rewards ; and to this end he devoted the 
incessant labors of a professional lifetime covering a period 
of more than half a century. In parallel with this profes- 
sional duty and labor wliich he bore with steady purpose 
in all these years, he assumed large responsibilities in poli- 
tics and indulged in extensive diversions in literature. 

It is in compliance with suggestions from my brothers 
of this association that on this occasion, as my contribu- 
tion to the memorials of Mr. Bingham, I attempt to treat 
in some measure of his relations to literature. 

As a student of literature his individuality w^as notable. 
He read with system, with deliberation, witli persistence, 
and with well-defined purpose. He used books as means 
of recreation as well as instruments in serious business. 
At times when he could not advantageously employ him- 
self in the duties of liis profession, he almost invariably 
restorted to books, choosing from those of a lighter or a 
heavier quality accordingly as he was in need of mental 
rest and diversion, or in search of material with which to 
satisfy the requirements of some line of investigation, 
practical or theoretical. All the time that he devoted to 
books he divided between the critical perusal of the text 
and reflection upon that reading, accompanied by a sj^s- 
tematic laying away in the recesses of his memory of all 
tliat he regarded as of possible value or use to him in the 
future. His domestic relations permitted him to make 



his books his closest companions. Whether he mio-ht 
be engaged in the study of the literature of the law, 
or that of other departments of learning, he was oblivi- 
ous to the passage of time, and it was the rule with 
him, rather than the exception, to continue thus occu- 
pied, without apparent weariness and without apparent 
flagging of interest, until he would be well into tlie 
small hours of the morning upon some work in philoso- 
phy, science, history, government, or tlieology. Tiiis was 
no spasmodic or temporary manifestation of interest in 
literature. Probably no one who knew him well can 
remember wlien these were not the settled characteristics 
of his literary life. His knowledge under these habits 
became encyclopedic. His attainments were remarkable, 
as well in respect to their accuracy as in respect to tlieir 
variety and extent. At the conclusion of any prolonged 
effort requiring continued and laborious absorption in his 
business lie returned to these same sources of rest, recrea- 
tion, and mental recuperation. For these uses he did not 
despise the productions of the humorists, from Artemus 
Ward to Mark Twain, or the lighter grades of current lit- 
erature and the novels of ephemeral character. Always 
having his acquisitions, gained in these vaiious directions, 
well in hand, he was ready with apt quotations and effec- 
tive illustrations to give his arguments and addresses a 
quality which added largely to their effectiveness before 
a court, a jury, or a general audience. He had exannned 
to good purpose such a wide range of autliors that audi- 
tors and readers liave often been surpi-ised at the fresh- 
ness, as well as the aptness, of his illustrations drawn 
from unfamiliar sources. Many passages wliich we find 
in his writings under quotation marks cannot be located 
by the books of familiar abstracts. He drew directly from 
the storehouse of his memory and seldom resorted to these 
compilations of literary '' ready reckoning." 

It was inevitable that a stvle of writing under these 



6 

methods and conditions would he developed peculiar to 
himself and individualized somewhat in conformity to his 
native caste of mind, the methods and directions of his 
early education, his social and business environment, the 
requirements of liis professional work, and the cliaracter 
of his studies in the various departments of the literature 
in wliich he delved. He was master of a strong idiomatic 
Eno-lish. Not a little character was given to it by his 
familiarity with such great English classics as Shakes- 
peare and the King James version of the Holy Scripture. 
His mind worked on straight lines. The larger part of 
his writings are argumentative, and a not infrequent 
employment of the argnmentvm ad hominein^ as well as 
pointed and well-timed satire and invective, is observable 
in his speeches and writings. He was a thorough master 
of the principles of logic, and an adept in the most recon- 
dite and the most effective methods of the logicians. He 
never failed to discover and expose the absence of sound 
logical structure a,nd the existence of essential weakness 
in the positions of his opponents. It often transpired, 
however, that when lie was compelled to a line of argu- 
ment in which some sort of sophism was unavoidable, his 
skill and method in that form of dialectics were so effec- 
tive that only the best equipped and most discerning- 
opponents could make headway against liim. He was 
strong in controversy. He flinched before no antagonists. 
He wielded a heavy battle-axe in every contest in which 
he entered. There was never any doubt as to the part 
which he had es[)0used or of his determination to win out in 
the end and to convince his opponent that whoever threw 
down the gauntlet before him must fight to the finish. 
A review of his life as a student and a writer would seem 
to be fairly susceptible of a division into two parts, — one 
being that of controversy, and the other that of philo- 
sophical production. 

In the first fifteen years of his professional life he was 



more conspicuous as a rising practitioner engaged in court 
contests and as an active leader in the politics of his sec- 
tion of the state than as a devotee of literature. 

He was not in youth and early manhood the heneficiary 
of adventitious aids from liberal patrimony or social promi- 
nence in antecedents or surroundings. In the fifteen years 
fi'om the date of his admission to the bar to the beginning 
of the Civil War he was constructing the foundation of 
personal influence and armoring himself in self-reliance. 
He had held no civil office of importance, and had con- 
tributed nothing which he regarded as of enduring quality 
in constructive literature except as he was impressing his 
individuality and genius upon the system of law wliicli 
was in process of development in the court reports of 
adjudicated cases of the time of Parker, Gilclirist, Woods, 
Perley, and Bell. 

He delivered a Fourth of July oration in 1853, on an 
occasion and under circumstances which were not pi'o[)i- 
tious for such an effort as would liave best suited his 
methods, temperament, and purpose, which Avere as a rule 
direct and serious in public speech. 

He contributed controversial articles to the local and 
state papers in those years. They were of the offensive 
and defensive style and character which were appropriate 
to the political conditions under which he wrote. In 
these articles he dealt with persons and politics as if he 
were more interested in the penetrative efficiency of the 
projectiles than in the symmetry of the weapons. 

In 1861 he entered upon a legislative career wliich occu- 
pied some part of almost every year of two distinct 
periods, the last ending in 1891. 

It is within bounds to describe the earlier of these 
periods as one of intense political antagonism i Mr. Bing- 
ham had become an intellectual leader of his party. The 
journals of the senate and house, informal reports, resolu- 
tions, and protests disclose his attitude towards the far- 



reaching issues then passing under fierce debate. In 1861 
he reported and supported a protest against legislation 
which was proposed to give the governor of the state new 
and extraordinary powers not duly restricted and guarded. 
This act was chapter 2409 of the Laws of 1861. While 
recognizing the urgency of the occasion and the necessity 
for adequate measures for the prosecution of the war, Mr. 
Bingham saw no reason for ignoring the ordinary precau- 
tions in legislation which common prudence dictates in 
safeguarding the public treasury, and in requiring every 
department of the state government to conform to consti- 
tutional limitations in administration and legislation, even 
in time of war. With statesmanlike foresight he discerned 
the tendency to extravagance and irresponsible exercise of 
executive power in this bill which turned the executive 
department loose in tlie expenditure of the proceeds of a 
state loan practically at its discretion, within the limit of 
one million dollars. 

Mr. Bingham was returned to the legislature each year 
from 1861 to 1865 inclusive. 

These years were an epoch for the nation, for political 
parties, for the state, and for a vast multitude of individu- 
als both in puljlic life and private stations. 

Mr. Bingham's record in the legislature in tliis momen- 
tous exigency is straightforward, consistent, and coura- 
geous. He stood unmoved by popular clamor, upon fixed 
principles which he regarded as adaptable and adequate to 
all the exigencies of government. 

This is not the occasion for a discussion of the merits of 
his contention on public issues which were uppermost in 
the time of the war for the Union, and it will not be 
attempted in this connection. 

In addition to the protest which is recorded in the Jour- 
nal of the House for 1861, we find in the report of the 
minority of the committee on national affairs a series of 
resolutions which bear internal evidence of Mr. Binoham's 



9 

authorship, although the record does not iudicate that he 
was a memher of the committee. 

In 1862 the majority of the committee on resolutions, 
as usual, presented a report, and a counter statement on 
the part of the minorit}^ accompanied it. Later, William 
L. Foster submitted his views separately. Mr. Bingham 
appears to have endorsed the principal minority report, 
and very likely was instrumental in its formulation. Later 
tlje majority, nnder the lead of Jas. W. Patterson, offered 
amendments to tlieir report and to that of Mr. Foster. 
Mr. Bingham's proposition to amend the report submitted 
by Mr. Foster further indicated his attitude on tlie ques- 
tions presented for discussion by these several submissions 
of resolutions for the consideration of the liouse and the 
points on which he differed from Mv. Foster. 

In 1863 he was, with .John G. Sinclair, Thomas J. Smith, 
and William W. Bailey, a. member of the minority com- 
mittee on national affairs. Again a minority report was 
presented, undoubtedly of Mr. Bingham's construction. 

At the Julv session in 1864 the views of the minority 
on national affairs were submitted in a preamble and reso- 
lutions by ^Ir. liingham, Mr, Sinclair, ^Ir. Smith, aiul Mr. 
Asa P. Gate. This was on the eve of the presidential 
election of tliat year, and the declaration, besides reiterat- 
ing the doctrines set forth in previous years, indicates 
clearly the position of the New Haiupsliire Democracy with 
regard to the possibility and desirability of negotiations 
fo]" peace on the basis of a restored Union under the con- 
stitution. 

At the special session which occurred in August follow- 
ing, perhaps the most strenuous of all the contests which 
were waged between the representatives of the two parties 
in the legislature of this state in the war period, was pre- 
cipitated by the proposed legislation to enable men who 
were in distant sections of the country in the military ser- 
vice in the federal army, to vote at the front for electors of 
president and vice-president. 



10 

Mr. Bingham and his political associ;)tes strenuously 
opposed this measure as unconstitutional, as in bad policy, 
and as an entering wedge for practices whicli, continued 
and re[)eated in the future, would inevitably expose the 
civil power to unwarranted domination by ambitious and 
unprincipled commanders of the armies of the republic. 

The governor of the state came into alignment with the 
Democracy in opposition to this measure, but the bouse in 
which the measure originated did not })ermit his veto mea- 
sure to be received seasonably. 

Upon the requisition of both houses the supreme court 
returned an opinion sustaining the validity of the law, not- 
withstanding the failure of the governor to give it his ap- 
proval, and notwithstanding his efforts to interpose a veto 
under circumstances wbicb are now a matter of history. 

The fiscal affairs of the state and the controversy between 
General Harriman and tbe officers of his regiment elicited 
formal statements ivom Mr. Bingham and Mr. Sinclair 
wliich were entered upon the record and make up a part 
of the stor}^ of the stirring events of that memoraljle ses- 
sion. 

■ At the time of the June session, 1865, the war iiad been 
concluded. President Lincoln had been assassinated, An- 
drew JoliJison had succeeded to the presidency, and the 
great questions of reconstruction were taking form in 
wbicb they were destined to divide the people in several 
succeeding years of bitter controversy. 

Tbe committee on national affairs in the house of repre- 
sentatives at this early date pronounced for an elective 
franchise, based upon loyalty to the constitution and Union, 
and recognizing and affirming the equality of all men be- 
fore the law, and declared that, in the reorganization of 
the rebellious states, both justice and safety required that 
ample provision be made for the protection of the freedmen. 

In a minority report Mr. Bingham, Mi'. E. A. Hibbard 
joining with him, presented a series of resolutions which 



11 

again stated Mr. Bingiiam's already well-known views on 
the constitutional relations of the federal government and 
the states, and clearly foreshadowed the position that his 
party would take with reference to the suhject of recon- 
struction. 

Although elected to the legislature in 1808, Mr. Bing- 
ham did not take a seat in that body nor qualify as a mem- 
ber. His legislative career was not resumed until 1871. 

In the ten years that followed the close of the war he 
was largely devoted to the demands of a law practice which 
w^as rapidly increasing, both in respect to its importance 
and volume. The reports of cases in the supreme court 
in a meager way indicate the intense lal)or and exliaustive 
investigation which he bestowed upon tiie cases with which 
he was identified. 

He was also at the same time entering into relations 
with the national organization of his party as one of its 
most reliable coadjutors in management and one of its 
soundest authorities on cpiestions of party doctrine and 
party principle. 

Practically all the published literature that emanated 
from him in this decade related to law or politics. He 
assisted or was consulted in formulating all, or nearly all, 
the declarations of principle and policy in the state con- 
ventions of his party in New Hampshire ; and he was in 
attendance at the national convention at New York in 
1868 as national committee man, and was a member of the 
committee on resolutions in the lialtimore convention of 
1872. In fact, he was always a member of the committee 
on resolutions in the national conventions in which he was 
a delegate, the later ones being those of 1880, 1884, and 
1892. 

A diverting incident in the political contentions of 
those da3-s w^as Mi'. Bingham's contribution to tlie contro- 
versy between Mr. Fogg and Mr. Chandler, which occu- 
pied public attention in 1868 and 1869. ]\Ir. Sinclair had 



12 

been brought into it by statements to the effect that Mr. 
Fogg and Mr. Sinclair had been in secret consultation with 
reference to the possible nomination of Chief Justice Chase 
by the Democratic national convention of 1868. Mr. liing- 
ham came to the defense of Mr. Sinclair in an article 
occupying a broadside in the White Mountain Republic of 
December 3, 1869. The gentler amenities of polemics do 
not characterize this article. It is one of those defenses 
Avhich consist principally in carrying the war into the 
enemy's camp. 

In the following winter his next formal discussion of 
current political issues appeared in his address as president 
of the Democratic convention wliich enunciated a platform 
and presented candidates for the approaching March elec- 
tion. This may be regarded as the last chapter of his pub- 
lished papers in advocacy of tlie policies for which the 
Democracy stood in the reconstruction period. 

At this point it may be pertinent to refer to the address 
of Mr. Bingham before the Granite State Club of Manches- 
ter, June 27, 1888, on " Tlie Life and Democracy of Jolni 
H, George." Mr. Bingham and Colonel George had been 
intimate political and personal friends in the three periods 
which antedated the historic change of front which the 
national Democracy executed in 1872. One of these would 
be the ante-war period from 1845 to 1860 ; the next, the 
war period; and the next, the reconstruction period. In a 
review of the political career of Colonel George, which was 
contemporary with that of Mr. Bingham, and in an expo- 
sition of the political principles entertained and advocated 
by the former, Mr. Bingham necessarily pursued a course 
in his narrative which was almost equivalent to an autobi- 
ography. Eighteen years after the termination of the so- 
called reconstruction period, Mr. Bingham was able to 
view the events of which he and his co-worker were a part, 
and the environment in which they waged their losinsf 
battles, from a wider perspective and with a better and 



13 

cooler conception of the acts and motives of the contend- 
ing parties. Tliis biography of Colonel George must, for 
nitUiifest reasons, be regarded as one of the most important 
and interesting of J\Ir. Bingham's contributions to contem- 
porary biography and political history. 

In 1876 he delivered a centennial address on the occa- 
sion of the celebration at Littleton of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This 
address was to a considerable extent a philosophical treat- 
ment of the development of the federal government and a 
discussion of some of the present mischiefs apparent in 
the conditions which had recently resulted from notable 
changes in the organic law and in political methods. He 
dwelt with special emphasis upon the dangerous progress 
that was observable in the demoralization of the suffrage 
by the direct exercise of unhiwful and even corrupt influ- 
ences upon the voters. 

A few years later he delivered two notable addresses 
which were afterwards published in pamphlet form, one in 
the spring of 1880, a Memorial Day address before Marshal 
Sanders Post, G. A. R., at Littleton, and the other the 
annual address in December, 1882, before the Grafton and 
Coos Bar Association at Lancaster. 

These efforts were widel}' different, both in character 
and metliod. The former was a catholic, patriotic, and 
philosophical treatment of the results of the war, and an 
exposition of the position of high honor and deep respon- 
sibility which belonged to the great body of veterans 
whose valor had reestablished the Union and placed the 
governmental structure upon enduring foundations for the 
future. The other address was upon the su1)ject of " Cer- 
tain Political Conditions and Tendencies which Imperil 
the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciar^^" This 
was an arraignment of the court, and a denunciation of its 
methods as that tribunal was at that time constituted, and 
as its policy was then formulated and directed by its chief 



14 

justice. He attrilnited the tlieii existing conditions both 
in the federal and state judiciary to the enci'oachnient of 
party pohtics within that sphere wliicli belonged exclu- 
sively to an independent judiciarj'. He urged as a remedy 
that the bar assert itself in aggressive and effective oppo- 
sition to tliese demoralizing political conditions and ten- 
dencies. 

Mr. Bingham made a number of notable contril)utions 
to the literature of legal biography between 1880 and 
1892. Among the pi'ominent lawyers and judges as to 
whom he prepared extended memorials were Andrew 
Salter Woods, 1880, Oilman IVIai-ston and Nathaniel Wait 
Westgate, 1887, John Hatch George, 1888, and William 
Spencer Ladd, 1892. Mr. Bingham's method in biography 
was to subordinate what are conunonly made prominent as 
biograpliical dates, statistics, facts, and events in the career 
of his subject, and to devote most of his attention to char- 
acter analysis and to the relations of his subject with 
important events and measures. 

He was not an infrequent contributor to periodical lit- 
erature. Among liis more carefully prepared political 
essays might be mentioned an article in the Manchester 
Union^ February 14, 1883, under the title ^ Tlie Political 
Situation," and one in the Riverside 3Iagazine of Concord, 
in 1890, on "-The Issues at Stake," to wliich Senator 
Chandler contributed a reply in the same publication. 

In the long contest wliich was maintained between the 
rival railroad systems in New Hampshire, occupying the 
attention of the legislature and the courts from about 
1870 to about 1890, ^Ir. Bingham was a conspicuous and 
potent factor. This most important epoch in the indus- 
trial, corporate, legislative, judicial, and political history 
of the state has its own literature, which is as important 
and interesting^ as it is voluminous. Mr. Bing-ham's elabo- 
rate and exhaustive argument on the " Hazen " bill and 
the "• Atherton " bill, nominally before the railroad com- 



15 

mittee of the house in 1887, but realh' before almost the 
entire membership of the state government and the aux- 
iliary forces, was one of the events of that remarkable ses- 
sion. Many of his most carefully prepared, most character- 
istic, and most effective arguments on tlie railroad issues 
of those yeai'S were not reported for the press, or delivei'ed 
by him in form for preservation. Others of his briefs and 
arguments in that litigation are printed in papers and 
pamphlets, but now buried in court files and the inmost 
recesses of other Lethean repositories. When an ade- 
quate history of that transition pei'iod in railroad affairs 
and railroad progress in New Ibimpshire is written, a com- 
petent and impartial historian cannot fail to accord Harry 
Bingham tlie part of a most efficient directive force in the 
strategic and forensic working out of tlie far-reaching con- 
ceptions and results embodied in the railroad unification 
now accomplished, not only in New Hampsliii-e, but in the 
entire area of northern New Enoland. 

With but one intermission, from 1871 to 1891, Mr. 
Bingham served continuously as a legislator in the house, 
in the constitutional convention (1876), or the senate. ^ In 
this twenty years his masterful powers in debate were re- 
peatedly tested. He was chairman of tlie house judiciarv 
committee in 1871 and 1874, the only two years of his 
service in which his party was in the ascendency, and at 
every other session at whicli he was a senator or i-epresen- 
tative he was a member of that committee. It is impossi- 
ble to estimate the influence, botli positive and negaitive, 

' Mr. Bingham also had the singular distinction of being the representative 
of his part}' in the following named candidacies, although the fortunes of war 
did not favor him in either of these contests: 

1865 for Representative in Congress, Harry Bingham v. Jas. W. Patterson. 

1867 for Representative in Congress, Harry Bingham v. Jacob Benton. 

1870 for United States Senator, Harry Bingham v. Aaron H. Cragin. 

1872 for United States Senator, Harry Bingham v. B. Wadleigh. 

1879 for United States Senator, Harry Bingham v. H. W. Blair. 

1883 for United States Senator, Harrj' Bingham v. Austin F. Pike. 

1885 for United States Senator, Harrj' Bingham «. H. W. Blair. 

1887 for United States Senator, Harry Bingham tj. W. E. Chandler. 

1899 for United States Senator, Harry Bingham v. W. E. Chandler. 



16 

that he exerted in developing a sound, consistent, and 
progressive system of statutory hxw. 

He contributed formal and carefully prepared argu- 
ments, reports, and drafts of bills (among which were 
those relating to the protection of the ballot from corrupt 
influences including tlie so-called Australian ballot bill), 
to the proceedings of these bodies, and many of them, 
embodying, in several instances, the results of his best 
efforts in research and [)resentation, are lost for want of 
adequate reporting by the press, or his own failure to 
extend them in manuscript. 

In any summary of these efforts mention should be made 
of his ai'gument on the questions of law raised by tlie con- 
tests between Proctor and Todd, and Pi-iest and Head 
over seats in the senate in 1875 ; his argument against 
abolition of capital punishment in 1877 ; his argument in 
opposition to tlie opinion of the court as to the election of 
a United States senator in 1881 ; liis discussion of ques- 
tions of taxation, the constitution of the courts, the regu- 
lation of corporations, the consolidation of railroads and 
the concession of other powers and privileges to tliem ; 
and, finally, his ai-gument before the court and in the 
house of representatives in 1891 on tlie duty of that tri- 
bunal and of the house in the exclusion of the so-called 
"if entitled" representatives-elect from seats in the house 
pending the organization of that body. 

This should not be regarded as in any sense a complete 
or methodical r^suind of even the more important forensic 
efforts and productions in the second period of his legisla- 
tive career. It is, at best, but a brief and desultory 
attempt to call attention to the variety and extent of Mr. 
Bingham's labors in that field of his action and influence. 

In the fifty years of his identification with the Demo- 
cratic party in constant and unvarying advancement from 
controlling local influence to extended national recoo-ni- 
tion, the organization encountered three transitional crises 



17 

which were at least temporarily disastrous to all the 
rational hopes it conld entertain for immediate accession 
to the control of a national administration. 

These epochs were marked by the secession of tlie 
eleven states under the control of the southern wing of 
the part}^ in 1860 and 1861 — the change of front on 
national lines and the nomination of Mr. Greeley in 1872 
— and the startling revolution in party policy and party 
conduct which culminated in the Chicago convention of 
1896. 

Mr. Bingham refused to support any of the nominations 
for the presidency emanating from the national conven- 
tion in 1860. He voted a ballot for electors bearing 
names which he selected for himself and which is unique 
in the town records for tliat election. He made no formal 
statement of his position at that time whicli lias been pre- 
served.^ 

In the Greeley campaign he was a delegate to tlie Balti- 
more convention, advocated the new departui-e and cor- 
dially and unreservedly supported Mr. Gi'eeley after lie 
Avas accorded the Democratic nomination. 

He was president of the Democratic state convention 
following tlie national convention, and on that occasion 
(Sept. 13, 1872) made an address singularly clear, straight- 
forward, and argumentative in support of the party ticket 
and the principles which had been formulated on the 
changed alignment of the two parties. This address was 
extensively circulated as a campaign document. 

In the recasting of Democratic policy according to the 
edicts of the convention of 1806, Mr. Bingham regarded 
its action as a radical and unjustifiable departure from the 

1 In the presidential election of 1860 the Lincoln and Hamlin ticket for elec- 
tors had a considerable plurality in Littleton. The next largest vote was for 
the Douglas and Johnson ticket. The Breckenridge and Lane ticket had a 
few votes, as did the so-called Union or Bell and Everett ticket. Mr. Bing- 
ham, however, preferred not to vote either of these tickets. He made one for 
electors to suit himself on which appeared the names of Franklin Pierce, 
Harry Hibbard, Jeremiah Blodgett, Nath'l W. .Swazey, and William Hey wood. 
This ticket had only one vote in Littleton, and that was ca.st by Mr. Bingham. 



18 

essential principles of genuine Democracy. He was pres- 
ident of the state Democratic convention in the spring 
preceding the session of the national convention, and 
delivered a carefully prepared address in w^hich he pre- 
sented his views on the tariff, the currency, and otlier 
pending questions with conspicuous lucidity and direct- 
ness. In the ensuing fall he presided at the state mass 
convention of the National Democrac}' called in protest 
against the policy of accepting and endorsing the platform 
and canilidates of the Chicago convention held at Man- 
chester, and on this occasion delivered another characteris- 
tic, cogent, and convincing address, taking as his theme, 
" The Present Duty of the Democrac}'." 

These two addresses were published in one pampldet, 
under the title, "Consistent Adiierence to Democratic 
Principles," and extensively circulated in tlie campaign 
then pending. To these two statements recourse must be 
had for the evidence of the attitude and opinion of jNIi'. 
Bingham on the issues whicli were tlie result of tiie polit- 
ical upheaval of 1896 — for his deli]:)erate and unbiased 
judgment rendered at the termination of fifty years of 
party service, distinguished 1)}' unselfisli loyalty, unfailing 
persistency and courage, and an intellectual primacy in 
leadership which find no parallel in the later liistory of the 
New Hampshire democracy. 

In the years that ensued between the termination of his 
legislative career in 1891 and liis deatli in 1900, he with- 
drew himself gradually from the active duties of his pro- 
fession and devoted his time largely to renewed research 
in such directions as would afford material for literary 
productions which he had long contemplated. He accom- 
plished before 1898 all of these later undertakings that he 
had given liimself to do. This work took the form of 
addresses and monographs, the dates and titles of which 
were as follows : 

'•'•The Muniments of Constitutional Liberty," address 



19 

before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association at Berlin, 
Jan. 2H, 1894. 

" Progress in Asiatic Civilization and its Significance 
for the Western World," address before the same associa- 
tion at Littleton, Feb. 14, 1895. 

'' The Rights and Responsibilities of the United States 
in Reference to tlie International Relations of the Great 
Powers of Europe and tlie Lesser Republics of America," 
an address before Marshal Sanders post, G. A. R., at 
Littleton, Dec. 26, 1895. 

"The Welfare of the Republic, the Supreme Law," 
address before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association at 
Lancaster, Jan. 31, 1896. 

'•The Relations of Woman to the Progressive Civiliza- 
tion of the Age," an address before the Grafton and Coos 
Bar Association at Plymouth, Jan. 29, 1897. 

"The Lifluence of 'Religion on Unman Progress," 
address before the New Hanipshire Historical Society, 
June 8, 1897. 

" The Annexation of Hawaii : a Right and Duty," 
address before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association at 
Woodsville, Jan. 28, 1898. 

These essays invite and cliallenge the most critical 
examination and anal^'sis. They are already familiar to a 
limited circle of students and readers and to those who 
happened to be in attendance upon the occasions of their 
delivery by the author. The circumstances of this occa- 
sion do not permit a further review of the products of 
Mr. Bingham's labors in the domain of history, social 
science, education, religious progress, international rela- 
tions, constitutional law and the science of government, 
but they will be accorded deserved recognition as a not- 
able series of studies on great subjects, and, in the more 
serious discussions of the dominant questions of our time, 
as an invalual)le deliverance of a master mind. 



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